Headlines

Gallup

Poll: Majority in U.S. want wealth distributed more evenly

Gallup has asked the question at least once during the administration of three Republican presidents — Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush, and George W. Bush — and two Democrats, Bill Clinton and Barack Obama. But there is no generally consistent pattern across these administrations. For example, the slightly lower percentage favoring a more even distribution during the Obama administration started in the final year of George W. Bush’s administration — after the onset of the financial crisis.

Wealth distribution is a key polarizing issue in contemporary U.S. politics. Partisan reactions to this question reflect that polarization, with more than eight in 10 Democrats saying money and wealth need to be more evenly distributed, compared with 28% of Republicans. There is a similar, although less extreme, divide between the views of liberals — 79% of whom say money and wealth should be more evenly distributed — and those of conservatives (41%).

Blowback

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McDonald’s. You mean that place where they had to put pictures of the food on the cash registers so the people they were getting could actually operate them? Where, if you give them a few cents above the bills to get more manageable change back they have to input it into the register so they can see how much they give you?

Hey, if it means a few more working brain cells behind the register, I say go for it.

Mitoch55 on April 18, 2013 at 1:12 PM

I guarantee you that adding ridiculous requirements will do very little to get more brain cells behind the register. Sounds like they need to simply have a basic literacy test as part of the hiring process, and do keep in mind their target hiring and customer demographics in a nation trending toward Idiocracy.

If you know of a college offering courses in how to work at a fast food joint, please feel free to tell me where they are.

There is no way you can blame the government for corporate policies which ask workers to work longer, for less pay and where increases in profits do not “trickle down” to higher wages as rewards for productivity.

libfreeordie on April 18, 2013 at 12:55 PM

Of course we can blame government for this, Idiot. A socialist government like the one we have now causes this.

A free market economy increases competition for employees which boosts pay and working conditions.

This number will continue to climb as employers continue to cut wages, benefits and pensions while raising upper management and executive pay (i.e. the economic trends of the last 30 years). There is no way you can blame the government for corporate policies which ask workers to work longer, for less pay and where increases in profits do not “trickle down” to higher wages as rewards for productivity. Employers around the country have colluded in lowering pay or freezing wages, so yes, naturally, more Americans are going to want a state based solution to that problem. Corporate American can only continue to send us into a banana republic for so long before people rise up.

libfreeordie on April 18, 2013 at 12:55 PM

How do we know that they didn’t earn those raises?

If people don’t like getting less money, do something about it – get a useful education or learn other skills. Make people want to pay you for your time.

You know what people don’t want to talk about (and maybe it’s been said here already, sorry), is that the ILLEGAL immigrant labor force and those that accept the crappy wages and low end jobs keep the wage scales low. Why would anyone pay more than they have to?

Maybe people have to take a little initiative and make themselves worth more and stick to it, instead of meekly accepting the status quo or doing nothing to make themselves more marketable.

As usual, the liberal/socialist view is to make everyone else conform to YOUR low standards and give people rewards merely for existing, off the backs of those who actually do something useful.

The free phone and service was established to help the poor who actually need help. Look what it has become under Obama and his fans:

>>>>Nearly half of the 6 million people who received free cellphones and communications services through the government-funded Lifeline program last year apparently were ineligible or did not respond to certification requests, a new report shows.

The U.S. government spent about $2.2 billion on the program last year alone, reports The Wall Street Journal, which conducted a review of the program’s funding.

The Lifeline phones, now referred to as “Obamaphones” by critics, are offered to low-income people, who are given an inexpensive phone with a limited number of voice and text minutes. The service, however, is not new. It actually began back in 1984 as a land-line program to make sure poor people would have a service that allows them to keep in contact with their families and to help them in job searches and emergencies.

What some bucktoothed goober dismissed some months ago as “hamburger riots”.

Like SWalker and N@zis, he said that because he not only has never seen one in his life (which goes for me too), but because he has fantasies of sending 1000s of welfare recipients running back to the slums like some modern right-wing Master Chief.

I guarantee you that if the lower classes feel insulted enough to get violent en masse that it will be no laughing matter.

There is no way you can blame the government for corporate policies which ask workers to work longer, for less pay and where increases in profits do not “trickle down” to higher wages as rewards for productivity.

libfreeordie on April 18, 2013 at 12:55 PM

You’re kidding right? Between ObamaCare, mandatory minimum wage, countless regulations and unions, businesses have limited options: Run more efficiently by asking for more productivity and reducing the workforce, produce a cheaper lower quality product or pass the cost increase onto the consumer. You can only pass so much onto the consumer.

Everything problem we face has been caused by government. Every single one yet you clamor for. The left creates this atmosphere hoping people will do exactly what you’re doing … calling for more big government to run everyone’s life.

According to the NY Times in 2011, America has one of the flattest wealth distributions in the world.

Notice how the entire line for the United States resides in the top portion of the graph? That’s because the entire country is relatively rich. In fact, America’s bottom ventile is still richer than most of the world: That is, the typical person in the bottom 5 percent of the American income distribution is still richer than 68 percent of the world’s inhabitants.

Corporate American can only continue to send us into a banana republic for so long before people rise up.

libfreeordie on April 18, 2013 at 12:55 PM

The only reason we aren’t a banana republic is because of Corporate America, or more precisely free market economics, or what’s left of it in this country. Could it be that the reason we are circling the drain is because of wealth distribution, or the artificial inflation of the dollar by printing money? Those are just a few examples, there are more. I got to ask, because you are so comprehensively stupid about even basic economics – or history or anything else – are you lefties just born this stupid and damaged, or do you get a chip implanted somewhere the scrambles incoming data signals so that you read everything backward?

There is no way you can blame the government for corporate policies which ask workers to work longer, for less pay and where increases in profits do not “trickle down” to higher wages as rewards for productivity. Employers around the country have colluded in lowering pay or freezing wages, so yes, naturally, more Americans are going to want a state based solution to that problem.

libfreeordie

You mean the same government that is currently colluding with big business AND big labor to keep wages low by giving amnesty to 30 million illegal immigrants?

Corporate American can only continue to send us into a banana republic for so long before people rise up.

libfreeordie

So you’re against legalizing 30 million illegal immigrants from banana republics then. Good to know, we need all the help we can get to stop that disaster from happening. And maybe if enough people make their voices heard, Obama will start enforcing current immigration laws and most illegals will go home, and those evil businesses will have to hire Americans and start paying a decent wage.